Star Tours current location was once occupied by Adventure Through Inner Space, lasting from 1967 to 1985. Even though Adventure Through Inner Space had been a hit, its age was beginning to show in the 1970's and Disney was already planning to update the attraction.
Wanting to replace the Adventure Through Inner Space attraction, Disney created plans for a motion simulator attraction in 1974. Unfortunately, the technology available at the time was not sufficient to create a motion simulator. It was not until 1984, when Michael Eisner and Frank Wells joined the Disney company, that the possibility for a motion simulator became a reality. That same year, Imagineer Tony Baxter collaborated with George Lucas on the creation of a new simulator ride that would replace Adventure Through Inner Space. Finally on January 9th, 1987 Star Tours opened its doors at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA. Star Tours also opened its doors at Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park at Disney Paris, and Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.
January 9th, 1987 Opening of Star Tours
January 9th, 1987 Opening of Star Tours
As Disney entered the 21st century, it was evident that a change needed to be made to the twenty-six year old Star Tours...
Star Tours was officially closed for renovation on July 27th, 2010 in Disneyland Park and on September 7th, 2010 at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. The new and much improved Star Tours: The Adventure Continues was officially opened on May 20th, 2011 in Florida and June 3rd, 2011 in Anaheim. The new Star Tours ride includes new characters and story lines, a 3-D experience with more classic Star Wars locations, and a brand new preshow.
Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Florida
Star Tours at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California.
Allegedly, a 26-year-old man by the name of Toby G. Scammellhas been charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in relation to the acquisition of Marvel by the Walt Disney Co. back in 2009.
"When Disney made public its intentions to buy Marvel for $4 billion, the comic book publisher's stock price jumped more than 25% — allowing Scammell to sell his Marvel options for a 3,000% return in less than a month, the SEC alleges." (August 12, 2011, Dawn Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times)
Scammell has been accused by SEC of using confidential information that he “surreptitiously gleaned” (Nick Allen, The Telegraph) from his girlfriend to make $192,000 off of Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel.
"Scammell purchased $5,464 worth of options to acquire Marvel stock at prices ranging from $40 to $50 from Aug. 13 through Aug. 28, 2009. Call options afford the right to buy shares of a particular stock at a predetermined price by a particular deadline — in this case, Sept. 19 of that year. These are generally risky bets that a stock price will rise dramatically, enabling the investor to reap a profit from a relatively small initial investment." (August 12, 2011, Dawn Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times)
It is assumed that Scammell acquired the information from his girlfriend's blackberry, e-mails, and possibly from over hearing conversations about the pending deal. Scammell's girlfriend worked as an intern in Disney's corporate strategy department in 2009, and according to the SEC filing, she had been working directly with the acquisition project.
Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for a reported $4 billion in 2009.
Walt Disney Co. reaction to insider trading:
"'This does not involve Disney, and the complaint speaks for itself,' a Disney spokeswoman said." (August 12, 2011, Dawn Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times)
According to SEC, this is not the first incident relating to insider trading with the Walt Disney Co. in recent years. In February of this year, a former assistant to a high-ranking Disney executive was sentence to four months of in house probation for giving insider information to her then boyfriend. The information was regarding the Burbank entertainment company's quarterly earnings results before they had been made public.
It's true! The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group, its joint venture partner in China, already held the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Shanghai Disneyland Resort in Pudong, Shanghai, China on April 8th, 2011!!
New Shanghai Disneyland Resort Logo!
Opening ceremonies at Shanghai Disneyland Resort April 8, 2011
Expected Opening: 2016 Site Size: 962 acres (3.9 sq kilometer) Initial Investment: $3.7 billion (US) or 24.5 bllion Yuan Additional Investment: $700 million (US) or 4.5 billion Yuan
It is expected that the Shanghai Disneyland Resort will include Shangai Disneyland, which is planned to resemble the Magic Kingdom in Florida with all the familiar Disney characters and stories. There haven't been many leaks as to how exactly the park will differ from the other Disneyland style parks, but it has been made clear that Shanghai Disneyland will "be both authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese" (Robert A. Iger 4/8/11, President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company).
Artist Rendition of Shanghai Disneyland Resort project
The Shanghai Disneyland Resort will also include a retail, dining, and entertainment district, recreational facilities, a lake, parking and transportation hubs, and two hotels. The themes of the two hotels have yet to be released to the public and I'm not one hundred percent sure that the themes are set in stone at this moment or even chosen. The new retail, dining, and entertainment district, I assume, will be similar to Downtown Disney in the Florida and California parks; just with its own style and feel.
Artists rendition of Storybook Castle in the center of Shanghai Disneyland with 11 acre green area surrounding the castle.
Unique to Shanghai Disneyland will be an 11 acre (46,130 square meter) green area in the center of the park. This green central area is a tribute to the theme of sustainability and nature that is expected to be found throughout the park. Little information has been released regarding other sustainability projects planned for the new park.
The Shanghai Disneyland Resort is expected to take five years to complete starting on April 8, 2011. This should put opening day somewhere around April 2016.
Artist rendition of Shanghai Disneyland project.
"We are hard at work designing Shanghai Disneyland, which when complete will be a special place where guests of all ages will discover a world of imagination, creativity, adventure, and thrills." (Thomas O. Staggs 4/8/11, Chairman of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts)
Aerial photo and outline of Shanghai Disneyland Resort
Few people realize just how influential and artistically revolutionary Walt Disney has been to the World. In 1932, Walt released the first ever technicolor animation with his debut of Silly Symphonies. From 1932 to 1935, Walt Disney's studio held the patent to the new three-color dye transfer system, which is recognized today as Technicolor. However, it must be mentioned that before the technicolor that we recognize today, there existed three other versions also known as Technicolor. In fact, only one film was made using each of these various systems. For example, The Gulf Between was released in 1917 as the one and only film to use the first version of Technicolor.
For your enjoyment and appreciation:
Silly Symphonies (of Mickey Mouse): Trees and Flowers 1932
The wonders of Technicolor:
System 1 The color motion picture process Technicolor was invented in 1916 and revolutionized the way we view film on the screen. The first ever Technicolor film was produced using the two-color system. Technicolor utilized a basic two-color system where red and blue-green filters consecutively covered two single strips of black-and-white negative film. The images were literally stacked one on top of the other. The film was then exposed by a prism beam splitter behind a camera lens that exposed both frames simultaneously, thus resulting in color. Unfortunately, this color was hard to project in a consistent fashion due to the difficulty of adjusting the projector's prism.
System 2 In 1922, technicolor released their newest color system that utilized a subtractive two-color cemented print system. In the older process, the black-and-white film itself was covered by colored filters that resulted in lost light and inconsistency due to the filters. In the new system, the image itself carries the color. Two negatives are made on matrix filmstrips and later dyed, one red and one a blue-green matrix. These matrix's are printed as mirror images of each other, placed back to back, and cemented together after they have been dyed in their respective colors. As a result, this process generated the matrices on a single matrix filmstrip that was not obscured by a filter and was consistent in its color representation due to the color of the matrix itself.
System 3 In 1928, Technicolor came out with a third system, a subtractive two-color dye transfer. The camera was the same in this third system as in the second system, but the main differences were that the matrices were optically generated. The optical matrices were produced from the negative camera and were used to make other prints.
System 4 Finally, in 1931 Dr.Herbert Kalmus developed an extremely reliable three-strip camera that allowed more than two color strips of film to be placed on top of each other. This allowed for the addition of a blue strip and resulted in a three-dye transfer Technicolor system. Today, this process is simply known as Technicolor. The first film ever to be filmed in this fourth system of Technicolor was Flowers and Trees released in 1932.
